One Man's Life
by Jay2658
Summary: What happened after the bridge? How did I end up back in England? Why wasn't it me? Did anyone else make it? How do I cope? So many questions and no answers. What happened to me?
1. Chapter 1

Hazed

**I hope you enjoyed one man's war, this is the direct sequel I've actually had this chapter written for about six months now just waiting to be used. I hope you enjoy the story and please read One Man's War for some context on what is happening at this point also please leave a review telling me what you thought and how it could be improved. I don't own COD but I do own my characters .**

I was confused as I came too in a hospital bed in Birmingham, back in the UK. How? I was in Russia not moments before how did this happen? I had a million and one questions to ask but there was no one around me, no doctors, no nurses and no other patients. It was like a bloody ghost story, fucking I am Legend shit or something, I felt like at any second some zombie fucking vampire thing was going to jump out and kill me.

As I laid in the bed I couldn't move obviously the grenade blast had jarred my back enough to stop me from moving. I looked at the ceiling waiting for someone to come in, I moved my arms my forearms had some new lovely scars running down them like daggers from the shrapnel but atleast my fingers looked pretty intact. I looked at my tattoo which ran down my lower right arm it seemed in pretty good nick but my left arm had a large scar in the general area that the tattoo was I'm so luckily I'm right handed.

I could hear the street outside bustling like an English city normally is but I felt really detached being in the hospital. I must have been awake for an hour of two when a nurse came in to see how I was.

"You're awake," She said sounding surprised.

"Where am I?" I asked her as she checked the monitor next to me, I couldn't really turn my head much as I was pretty restrained.

"Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, West Midlands, England," She replied as she looked down at me in the bed, her long brown hair tied up behind her head and her piercing blue eyes looked at me with almost pity.

"What happened?" I asked her as she looked me up and down checking my right leg.

"Erm….. I'm not the person you should ask," She simply replied.

"Where's Soap and Price….. Griggs…. And Gaz… Oh fuck!" I shouted as I remembered Gaz and Griggs had been killed by Zachaev in Russia. As I laid there nearly sobbing to myself two soldiers armed with their SA-80s came into the room accompanying a doctor clad in his white coat and he even had a nice pair of glasses on.

"How are you doing?" The doctor asked me calmly as he waved off the soldiers.

I just stared at the ceiling waiting to compose myself, "What happened?" I asked him as I looked up at the ceiling which had some shitty faded cream white paint on it.

"From what I gather you were on an operation in Russia, you were compromised and from then on you stepped on a grenade," The doctor then paused, I had a feeling about what he was going to say, "I'm sorry," He told me as he placed his hand on the rail on the edge of my bed, "We couldn't save your right leg, we had to amputate," as he spoke those words my heart sank deep into my chest, sure when I was a marine in Afghanistan we joked about losing a leg, losing an arm or even losing your life but to actually have it happen. I just couldn't describe the feeling.

"Well what now?" I asked the doctor with a tears filling up my eyes.

"That my friend is up to you," He told me as he then placed his hand on my shoulder, "You can either, sit and wallow in your own self-pity," He paused again, "Or you could get your arse up out of the bed and prove that you've been downed but your still going to get on with your life," He told me with an ear to ear smile.

He ripped the thing holding my head in place off and I could look around, I was afraid to look down at my leg, I just turned my head to look at the doctor, "How can you say things will be alright?" I asked him on the brink of tears.

"Because I was once you, I didn't believe it either but trust me mate, it gets easier," he told me in his obviously non doctoring voice as it sounded slightly West Country with a mix of welsh. As he walked out of the door I could see a metal rod with a plastic foot attached detruding from under his lab coat.

Two Weeks later.

I was up and out of the bed all be it in a wheel chair, it was great I had my freedom again like I could go anywhere, atleast anywhere Ashley could wheel me. I felt bad that she had to continually wheel me around like some kind of sick puppy but she didn't seem to mine. Although occasionally I would wheel myself around just so she would have too.

She never looked down on me the whole time I was in that wheelchair, well figuratively speaking, as I was at her chest level. Not a bad place to be. I kept up the rehabilitation stuff and even managed to get on a sports team in the rehab centre.

Timmy tennis, I had now found my game, it was fun and the lads who surrounded me were all service men and women who had lost their limbs fighting for queen and country. We all became close; I even managed to rope Ashley into playing a game or two in that week.

On the Friday night when Ashley was wheeling me back to my bed she was explaining about her life in Surrey, it was very normal she thought about normal things, like the bills, family and love. It was so alien to me how things in the civilian world actually affected people. When we arrived back on my new ward, which actually had people on it I think the government finally figured out I wasn't going to talk about anything that had happened and deemed me safe, I was helped into my bed. Well helped meaning Ashley held the wheel chair in place while I lifted myself in.

When I was comfortable and sat nicely in my bed the doctor who had been treating me, Dr. Eric Smith, came into the room. He was holding an envelope which had a red wax seal on it.

"I don't like the looks of that," I said to Ashley as the doctor made his way over to me with the envelope clutched in his hands tightly like it was of the utmost importance.

"Sgt. Jacks, I have a letter for you," He told me as he simply placed it in my hands and walked away as if he knew what it contained.

I looked at the thickened paper on the envelope it was decorated with a few official markings and on the top right hand corner above the address it had the return address of the base at Credenhill. I looked at the thick red wax on the front it had been imprinted by an SAS imprint I could clearly see the winged dagger with who dares wins at the bottom. I tried to pick off the seal with my nails but I didn't have any which made getting through the seal very difficult.

I looked over to Ashley, "Can I borrow your nails?" She looked just as intrigued as me about the letters contents, I gave her the letter and she effortlessly picked the wax clean off the envelope giving both the envelope and the wax back to me.

I slowly started to pull the letter from the envelope it too was printed on the most expensive piece of paper I think I've ever had my hands on it had a large British army crest in the top left corner and a small SAS badge below it to the right of that was all my soldier information like my number, name, rank, platoon and company. I slid it out further to unveil the A4 sized piece of paper folded over twice cutting it into thirds.

I unfolded the paper and revealed a brief set of words which made my heart sink into a pit of despair the likes of which I had never felt.

Sgt Arthur Jacks,

I can regrettably inform you that you are being medically discharged from her majesties armed forces under grounds of ill fit for service. However due to your outstanding contribution to the crown, the army is continuing to provide funds for your treatment,

Yours faithfully, Major Alistair MacMillan.

"What does it say?" Ashley asked me as I looked down at the piece of paper in front of me feeling a tear roll down my face.

"I've…. I've….. Been booted for my leg," I told her as I wiped the tear from my face and looked at her.

"I'm so sorry, Jacks," She told me as she grabbed my hand placing it in her warm comforting hands, "Is there anything I ca do?" She then asked as I just kept looking at the piece of paper expecting its words to change.

"Get me a phone please," I said to her calmly. She didn't ask why? She just did it for me, about two minutes later she returned with a small black cordless phone.

She gently handed it to me and then asked, "Do you want some privacy?"

I shook my head and simply dialled in the number which I knew all too well but had not used in months, maybe even years. I waited for the dialling tone to go through and eventually after what seemed like minutes I heard the other end get picked up. "Hello, who is this?" A female voice echoed down the phone piercing my soul with the comforting sound.

"Hey Mum, it's me Arthur," I said into the mouth piece calmly.

"Oh my god, Arthur, are you okay?" She replied frantically, I couldn't blame her I hadn't spoken or seen her in about a year ever since I signed up for the SAS, it was the day I had signed the papers for selection was the day I last spoke to her.

"No… I'm really not okay," I told her as I started welling up, Ashley passed me a tissue so I could wipe my face but it felt like it was too late.

"Why? What's wrong? Where are you? Are you even in the country?" She then asked sounded more and more frantic.

"Calm down," I simply told her, pausing realising how much I sounded like teenage me growing up in Essex. "I'm in Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, I want you to come down," I said to her as I calmed my body through awaiting her response.

"Yes, I'll get your sister to drive we'll be there by morning." She told me sounding almost excited.

"Okay mum, I'll see you soon okay?" I told her quietly.

"Yes, we'll get there as soon as possible," She then told me as I could hear her talking to my sister in the background.

"Okay, well I love you and I'll see you soon," I uttered as I almost completely let my emotions roar.

"Okay, see you soon, I love you too, bye," She replied as the phone hung up.

"Are you finished?" Ashley asked as I wiped my eyes clear again. I just nodded at her as I gave her back the phone which she ran off to where she found it. I looked back at the piece of paper but just as Ashley came back I slipped it back into its envelope she had been gone maybe ten seconds. I placed the envelope behind my pillow and then moved my leg over the edge of the bed so I was sitting facing Ashley who was stood up in front of me.

"Well don't just stand there," I told her jokingly moving my head to the side gesturing that she should sit on my bed with me.

"Oh okay," she laughed as she tucked the hair on the right side of her face away and pulled herself up onto the bed next to me. "So that was your mother?" She then asked me as I looked over to the clock, it was almost eleven pm.

"Yeah it was," I replied as I looked down at her legs and then at mine it just looked odd seeing three legs and not four.

"How long has it been since you last saw her?" She then asked.

"You are an inquisitive person aren't you?" I asked her but I didn't expect an answer she just blushed, "It's been about a year, I joined the regiment and then we pretty much stopped talking, I just think she was afraid of something like this happening. She was right to be."

"No she wasn't, you shouldn't block people out just because they're doing something that you disagree with and besides your taking it rather well, I think," she then told me.

"So when do you clock off?" I asked her thinking that it was getting late for a nurse to still be in the hospital.

"An hour ago," She told me, "I had to beat you at tennis first, and I don't know why I'm still here to be honest," She told me as she looked down at her legs and placed her hands in her lap.

"Well in that case what do we have around here for fun?" I asked her as she simply looked at me with a grin on her face. She scampered off into the office where she had retrieved the phone from and after a few minutes of her scuffling around she came back with a small cardboard box. "Now what have you got there?" I asked her as she came back clutching it like her life depended on it.

"Chess," She told me excitably.

"Chess are you being serious?" I asked her as she opened the box and laid the board on the bed next to me and then sat next to the board.

"Why not are you afraid of losing?" She then asked me as she gave me a snarky grin on her face.

"I accompanied and learned my trade off one of the best officers I have ever know you don't have a chance against the strategy he taught me," I laughed at her as we started to arrange our pieces on the board, I hadn't ever really played chess before, I knew the pawns went at the front but after that I was completely looking at what Ashley was doing.

About two and a half hours later I had lost three games straight, and I was no closer to winning in every game, I was enjoying every minute of it however. We were just setting up the pieces for a fourth game when the doctor came into the room bearing his white lab coat and had a clipboard in one hand.

"Sergeant, you have a visitor," He told me as I heard the clicking of heels behind him down the hallway where I knew the reception was.

"Ah good," I replied to him as Ashley shot up from the bed firing the chess pieces everywhere.

"We could have still played that," I laughed at her as she turned bright red in the face moments later a small statured woman walked into the room her shoes were newly polished her trousers marks on them from a day at work and her shirt did not scream of her wealth but as soon as she looked at me her expression became one of relief but also sorrow. I could feel myself welling up inside like I was going to boil over, I could see a lone tear rolling down Ashley's face but the woman showed no signs of tears she just stood there. I decided to speak first.

"Hello Mum."

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, the first of many I hope I know where I'm going in this story now there is a plotline I am going to explore but please leave a review telling me what you thought of the story and how I could improve it further I really do like the feedback anyway until next time ….PEACE!**


	2. Chapter 2 Visiting Hours

Visiting Hours

**I have another chapter! Yeah it took a very very very very very long time for me to actually finish this :/ I had major writers block. But it's out now I know this isn't very action packed but there needs to be some back story for now. I will get onto further things later. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter, and as always I don't own COD but I do own my characters.**

"My god!" My mum shouted as I sat upright with Ashley stood next to me.

"Mrs Jacks, I know it's a lot to take in right now but we can sort out accommodation and you two can catch up later you are both probably tired," The doctor told her it sounded as if he was speaking from a script.

"No I'm alright," She stuttered as she stepped closer to me I held out my hand as she approached ready to hold her but when she placed her hand in mine I realised she wasn't coming any closer than she was.

"Mum, I'm okay you can touch me you know," I told her as she just kept looking at the area where my leg was.

"No you're not how can you say any of this is okay?" She shouted at me before she turned her back burying her head in my sister's, who had just entered the room, shoulder. The two of them started to sob. I just sat there at stared at them with a blank look on my face.

"How did this even happen?" My sister asked me.

"I…. I can't tell you," I told them causing my sister to recoil back, I knew what was about to happen.

"Why the fuck not?!" She shouted at me causing Ashley to shake a bit as she did.

"Do you know what I've been doing for a year since you lot cut me the fuck off?" I asked her as I tried to pull myself forward but it couldn't really I must have just looked a bit pathetic.

"I suppose you think that we should give you a hero's welcome back to us, knowing that you just up and left not giving us a single choice in what happened to you and now we get a call in the middle of the night and we come here to find you in the hospital with one leg, yeah it's not a good night for us," my sister exploded at me as I sat on the bed with Ashley still shaking next to me not liking being caught in the free fire zone.

"What do you want from me?" I asked her as she actually stepped closer to me and looked me in the face holding the hand that I offered to my mum.

"I want my brother back."

"And I want my son."

"I can't promise you anything right now, but tomorrow I'm going to get my legs sized up, do you want to come along and we can try and make amends even if it's just a start?" I asked them whilst I looked at Ashley.

"That sounds good," My sister told me who was now pretty much talking for my mum.

"Shall I show you to your accommodation?" The doctor told them, they both simply nodded as he walked them off.

"I should probably head home," Ashley told me as she went into the office and grabbed her coat.

"I'm sorry about that," I told her as I attempted to lay down.

"Don't worry, I'm glad I was there for you," She told me with a smile as she helped me lay down properly in my bed. "I'll see you tomorrow," She told me as she left the ward and turned off the lights.

I laid in bed just waiting for myself to fall asleep but I could only be thinking about her smile and how much I liked it.

I woke up at seven thirty, and looked around the ward and the night nurse was on her final rounds after about ten minutes of me being awake she came into my ward, "You're up early," She smiled at me as she checked everything I just nodded at her, "Do you want me to get your family?" She then asked me.

"Nah, let them sleep but I could do with some breakfast," I replied to her as I sat upright in the bed.

"That's fine what do you want?" She asked me as I looked around the room and there was still no one there, I was still on my own private ward.

"Waffles and maple syrup, if you have any?" I asked her with a massive ear to ear grin across my face.

"Sure we have those," She told me returning the smile.

As she left the room and left me by myself I heard a door open on the other side of the ward where the office was. "Good morning," A familiar female voice echoed through the ward.

"Ashley?" I asked out, as I heard the door open up and the two nurses came in.

"Here's your waffles," the night nurse told me as she set the plate down on the bed and turned to look at Ashley, "Can you take it from here?" She then asked her.

"Yeah I will be fine," Ashley replied with a large grin on her face.

"Good, I'm shattered," The night nurse told Ashley as she walked out of the room.

Ashley laughed as she walked across to me, "So your leg fitting is at twelve, what do you want to do until then?" She asked me as I scoffed down the waffles.

I just about managed to swallow the mass of mashed waffle and maple syrup before I opened my gob to speak, "fresh air, now!" I almost demanded with a smile on my face and syrup dripping down my chin, which I wiped off with the sleeve on my hospital cloth. As I did Ashley bought me my wheelchair which I lowered myself into.

I started to roll myself with my hands. We walked slowly over to the door which led to the gymnasium and the outdoor quad, as we reached the first door Ashley held it open for me and I wheeled through giving me a smile as I did.

When we wheeled past the gym I spotted a soldier I knew walking down the hallway towards me, he was Hamish O'Leary a young Lance Corporal from the Irish Guards, he had lost his leg doing UN work in Africa but it was the first time I had seen him with his prosthetic on. It gave me hope. As he approached, I gave him the standard upwards nod to say hello and he did the same, he had a sense of humour not many could compete with but his main goal from my point of view was to take the piss out of me as much as possible.

When we reached the door leading out to the quad I held out my good leg and rolled myself forwards opening a door by myself for the first time since I woke up in the hospital two weeks ago. I could instantly feel the cold winter air around my skin it felt good, I felt free for the first time since the accident.

"Do you wanna sit down?" I asked Ashley as she stood next to me.

She looked down at me I could see her shivering, "I'm okay," She told me I could see the condensation pouring out of her mouth she was getting very cold so I looked around seeing there was a bench just in the atrium that we had just come out of.

"Let's go back in there, I don't want you freezing to death," I told her with a chuckle, I wheeled myself over to the door which unluckily for me was a pull door, "Can you get the door please I can't do pull doors yet," I told her whilst smiling.

""Sure," She laughed as She opened the door and we went inside I wheeled myself up to the bench and pulled up next to it, Ashley sat on the bench with her hands on her knees, her nurses uniform perfectly pressed and cleaned. "So are you nervous about today?" She asked me as she looked at me.

"Not really, I'm actually really excited," I told her as I looked down at my stump, which was almost fully healed now it only had a small stitched opening at the end which was healing over gradually.

"You do realise getting your legs back will be a long process right, you won't be walking by the end of today, right?" She told me as I continued to look at my stump.

I nodded knowing full well that it would be a long process in being able to walk again, "Yeah I know, I was a soldier, I'm not that naïve," I replied as I slowly looked up at her but I was confident I wanted it.

"You'd be surprised a lot of guys come in here thinking they'll be up fighting within a week of losing their arm or their leg," She told me, making me realise that I wasn't the first soldier that she'd treated nor would I be the last.

"Do you give every soldier this much attention?" I asked her sounding like an over protective boyfriend.

"What do you mean?" She replied looking confused.

"I mean do you always treat soldiers like you're treating me?" I asked her sternly.

"I have to be nice it's my job," She shot back.

"Yeah," I told her.

"Why does it bother you that I've cared for other soldiers?" She asked me as I kept looking at my leg.

"What? No….. No…." I paused while I looked down at my leg holding onto my stump.

"Really?" She asked me as she looked down at my stump too.

"Well…." I started but as soon as I did I heard someone call out from down the hallway.

"Sergeant Jacks?" I heard the Doctor shout as I heard numerous footsteps afterwards.

"I'm down here," I returned as I heard the footsteps get closer.

"Ah there you are," He then told me as he came around the corner followed by my mum and sister.

"Arthur," My mum whispered as she came over and hugged me tightly atleast now she could actually touch me. I embraced her back as she hugged me tighter and tighter.

"So am I forgiven?" I asked them as my sister came and held my hand.

"You can make a start…" My sister began, "By when we get home you can make me some bloody pancakes, I aven't ad them in ages."

I looked at her after my mum was done, "Alright then," I nodded at her. I waited for a few moment before looking up at the doctor who had a large grin on his face, "So what's that beam about?" I asked him.

"Well Sergeant, I have good news," He told me as he held out a slip of paper, "It's your leg appointment. It's been moved forward by two hours, so if I were you I'd get out of these clothes and in your fatigues."

"That's great," I almost shouted with joy as I tried to stand up.

"Woah!" Everyone shouted in unison as my mum and Ashley tried to sit me down in my chair.

"Just get back, in the chair hotshot," Ashley told me as she sat me down.

"What's the time?" I asked everyone as I finally sat in the chair.

"Nine thirty, so I'd get your arse in gear," The doctor told me as I started to wheel myself off.

"I will do Sir," I told him as I sped off to the ward but I had the problem again, doors. "Erm Ashley can I have a hand?" I asked before hearing the sound of her gripped nurse's shoes squeaking along the floor.

"I'll give you a hand," She told me as she opened the door to let me onto the ward.

"Can you give me a hand with the uniform?" I asked her.

"Erm yeah," She simply responded as she blushed.

When we made our way onto the ward I saw that my uniform was neatly laid out on my bed even with the beige beret. I grabbed the trousers and realised that they had a pair of boxers underneath that I hadn't seen since I was in basic training in the Marines.

I picked up the boxers and then slid them on quickly, realising it wouldn't be that hard to get dressed. I slid the trousers over the boxers and pulled the shirt on. "I guess I didn't need help," I said to Ashley who was just stood at the corner of my bed looking shyly in the other direction. "Right let's get to it shall we?" I asked her.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I don't know how long it will take for me to get the next chapter out but there will be more but anyway please feel free to review and tell me what you thought and how the story could be improved. But until next time… PEACE!**


	3. Chapter 3 Getting a Leg Up

Getting A Leg Up

**I hope you've been enjoying the story thus far I aim to get this story going more and more over the next few weeks but I can't make promises with exam season rapidly approaching :/ anyway on with the story hopefully it can be updated regularly I don't own COD but I do own my characters.**

As I wheeled myself into the doctor's office, who would be getting my new leg sized up, I looked to my left and right seeing the people who surrounded me all there for me willing me to get better. Ashley opened the door to the office, shuttling me and my family inside.

"Are you coming inside?" I asked her as she stood at the door.

She just shook her head at me and said, "No I can't I'll come find you after," She had a grin across her face which told me I hadn't actually annoyed her earlier.

"Ah okay, maybe we can all go get lunch together," I asked her with a grin.

"That sounds good to me," She replied with a smile. She closed the door behind herself and I turned to see the doctor with my mum and sister. They were sat talking about something but as I turned they instantly stopped and looked at me.

The doctor stood up and held out his had to me, "Sergeant Jacks," he told me with a smile.

"Doc?" I asked him.

"Colonel actually, Colonel Adams RAMC," he told me as he opened his lab coat and showed off his colonel crown and baths.

"Ah sorry Sir, I didn't know," I replied apologetically.

"It's fine sergeant, for the record this wasn't my first choice of locations either, but the damn brass thought it was a good idea," he almost whispered to me resentful of the top brass, "But now onto why you're here, let's size up your leg shall we?" He got down next to me and inspected my leg, poking and pulling at the stump. "Ah well you seem to be healing up well, so hopefully we can size you up and get onto the ones we have here."

"Let's get to it," I smiled as I lifted my stump up, I looked over to my mum and sister who were also smiling too.

"Okay then," The Colonel told me as he pulled a tape measure out of his desk, he wrapped it around the top of my leg, "Okay that's 395mm at the knee," He told me as he then wrapped it around the remainder of my calf. "And that's 505mm around the widest part of your calf."

I looked at the colonel as he entered the numbers into a log sheet which he then looked up at me as I rubbed the end of my stump. "So can I try some on?" I asked him.

"Let's get them out then," He replied with a grin on his face. He walked over to a large metal locker on the far wall of the office, as he opened it I saw a large number of prosthetics which the Colonel looked over eventually pulling out one pink leg with a foot at the bottom and a running blade.

As he walked back over to his seat and sat down he passed me the pink leg, it had an array of straps and buckles inside. I slid the plastic pink calf replacement over my leg and the Colonel buckled it up for me, "So how does it feel?" He asked me.

"Tight," I replied whilst looking at the uncomfortable contraption.

"Well if it wasn't then it would fall off, so do you want to try and stand?" He then asked he as he stood up and held out his hand towards me.

"Yes!" I almost shouted at him, as I placed my hand around his wrist and he pulled me up and I was standing for about ten seconds. I had lost a lot of my muscle mass in the time that I had been hospitalised but as the Colonel pulled me back upright and I actually managed to stand upright.

My mum started to cry as I stood up and looked at her, "This is great," I told the Colonel as I placed my hands on the desk and attempted a step forwards but as my weight went into the prosthetic I caved luckily the Colonel was there to prop me up. "Cheers."

"It's alright maybe you should wait until you get your own before you actually walk," He told me as I looked at the prosthetic. "Do you want to try the blade?"

"Yeah, go on then," I told him as I unbuckled the pink leg myself. The Colonel just nodded and placed the Blade over my stump and buckled that up too. I was then pulled upright again but this time it was very lop sided, "This really is weird," I told him as I looked at the Colonel.

"Yeah it will do but yours will be custom fitted to your leg height, so you won't stand like a cock eyed chicken," He told me as he wrote something down on a piece of paper.

"I hope no I wanna get back out running," I said to him joyfully, "I'm turning into a chubby fucker in this chair," I told him as I looked at his paper. It had the usual doctor's chicken scratch on it I couldn't read any of it so I didn't even attempt to look closer at it.

"Haven't they given you any crutches yet?" He then asked me sounding concerned.

"No not yet," I told him, he didn't reply he just got up and walked over to the metal cupboard again. I just unclipped the leg from my stump causing it to clang against the floor, as it did the colonel stepped in front of me and passed me a set of metal crutches. I looked up at his face and smiled. "Thank you, Sir."

"Don't thank me on your arse," He told me as he held out his hand, "tell me on the feet god gave you." I took his hand and placed the crutches under my arms, I was pulled up being able to look the Colonel right in his eyes, his beret was sat proudly on his desk which he scrambled to put on his head. I raised my hand in a salute.

"Thank you Sir," I said as I saluted.

"Not a problem Sergeant," He replied as he returned the salute. "I think our time is up," The Colonel told me with a grin on his face, "your legs should be ready in about three weeks, but we'll tell you when they are."

"Roger that, Sir," I replied as I looked back at my mum and sister.

My mum stood up and shook the hand of the Colonel and said, "Thank you so much," She told him as my sister walked over to the door and opened it. I made my first shaky steps across the room towards the door.

We all moved out of the door and my sister closed it behind me. I looked down the hallway and saw Ashley was back in her office filing paper; I hopped down towards the office and knocked my crutch on the door.

"Who is it?" she asked as she opened the door.

"Sergeant Jacks," I shouted as the door swung open.

"How was your leg fitting?" She asked looking down expecting me to be in my chair.

"Well you can see for yourself," I told her as she looked up actually being able to look me in the face.

"Woah!" She shouted as she took a step backwards.

"Do you have any safety pins?" I asked her as she continued to look me up and down.

"Yeah sure, come in," She told me as she walked back inside the office and pulled open her draws. "What do you need safety pins for?" she asked me as she pulled the pins out of the draw.

I lifted up my stump which had the trailing leg of my combat trousers, "it's a tad long."

"Do you want me to attach it?" She asked me.

"That would be nice," I told her with a smile. She started to pin the leg on my trousers back up, after she put one pin in but when she went to put the second one in I shouted loudly.

"What?" She jumped up as I laughed at her.

"Got you," I told her so she pricked me in the back of the leg, "Ah fucker," I shouted as she attached the leg of my trouser to the thigh of my trousers.

"Got you back," She told me as I hopped around and looked at her, "I didn't realise you were that tall," She told me shyly.

"I'm sorry about earlier," I said to her quietly, "When do you clock off for lunch?" I asked her.

"At twelve," She replied in dismay.

"Damn, my mum and sister were planning on going exploring the city for a bit and I wanted you to come," I told her.

"Well maybe I can figure something out," She shot back with a smile as she dove into the draws again and pulled out a piece of paper, she started ticking away at the boxes and then gave it to me, "Sign the dotted line at the bottom," She smiled at me.

"What does this mean?" I asked her as I signed the bottom of the piece of paper.

"It's a waver meaning that you have requested me to escort you around the city," She told me with a grin on her face. She posted the piece of paper into the doctors pigeon hole and grabbed her coat off the chair.

"Shall we?" I asked her as I hobbled across the office towards the door and pushed it with one of my hands.

"Sounds good to me," She replied as she donned her long black coat and led me out of the door. My mum and sister were sat at the end of the corridor waiting for me but as I approached with Ashley they both stood up.

"Hi, sorry I didn't introduce myself, I'm Sarah," My mum said as she shook Ashley's hand, "This is my daughter, Eve," My mum looked over at my sister who was sat as per usual on her phone.

"Hi, I'm Ashley, I am your son's nurse," She smiled as she looked my mother in the face.

"Well now we're introduced can we move on? I'm hungry," I asked as I started hobbling off down the corridor towards the outside world. "Come on we don't have all day."

"Alright, alright we're coming," My mum said as she I heard her walking down the corridor towards me.

After about twenty minutes of walking we came across a small café on the corner of an alley way somewhere in Birmingham. The city was pretty much almost dead during a week day afternoon, so we had the café to ourselves.

We all sat around waiting for the waiter and all enjoyed the meal but I couldn't help but just keep my eyes focused on Ashley.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter please feel free to review and tell me what you thought of the story and how it could be improved hopefully I will get into the bulk soon but until then…. PEACE!**


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